Iguazu Falls

Can you hear that. ROAR. It is my big, watery voice. I am made of hundreds of waterfalls all singing together. I puff out cool, misty clouds, and when the sun shines just right, beautiful rainbows dance all around me. My home is a big, green jungle filled with tall trees and colorful flowers. The Guarani people, who lived here a long, long time ago, gave me my name. They called me Iguazu Falls, which means 'Big Water'. Isn't that a wonderful name. I think it fits me perfectly.

I am very, very old. I was here long before your grandparents' grandparents were born. A long time ago, a big, sleepy volcano rumbled deep in the earth and helped make the land where I flow today. For many, many years, the Guarani people were my special friends. They lived in my jungle home and listened to my watery song every day. Then, one sunny day in the year 1542, a man in a boat sailed down the river. His name was Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, and he was an explorer. When he saw me, his eyes opened wide. He had never seen so much big water before.

Today, I am a happy home for so many wonderful animals. Brightly colored toucans with big beaks fly through my mist. Cheeky little monkeys swing from the tree branches, and thousands of butterflies flutter around me like tiny, flying flowers. People from all over the world come to visit me now. They walk on special bridges to get close and feel my cool spray on their faces. In the year 1984, people decided I was a treasure for the whole world. I love sharing my thundering song and sparkling water, reminding everyone how beautiful our world is.